7岁美国青年1980年的深圳图片记忆1980年，特区创办的第一年，大规模建设还没展开，深圳只是个大鹏湾畔的小镇，平凡得如同一个喝多了广东米酒在午后小睡的老头儿，浑然不知时光流转。在被历史唤醒之前，谁有兴趣来看它一眼呢？
一个生于费城，在洛杉矶长大的27岁美国青年，在小学教书，每年七、八月都有两个月的假期，这一年他决定开始人生中第一次穿越太平洋之旅。他先是到了香港，导游跟他说可以到一河之隔的另一个国度去作半日游，被好奇心驱使，他报了名过了罗湖。于是，深圳闯入了他的镜头。
这年夏天的朗日晴空，使深圳足以用通透的光线在一卷柯达康（Kodachrome）反转片上雕刻了自己这段闷热无比的时光。它为什么选择了这个名唤Leroy W. Demery, Jr.的人？它为何决定让城市的童蒙记忆寄存在远隔重洋的他乡？它为什么选择在将近而立之年取回这笔时光银行里的存款？
当年的访客今天已经56岁，从一个业余的铁路发烧友变成一个城市公共交通专家，仍然生活在洛杉矶。在初次涉足深圳之后的第三年，他又深入了中国内陆，沿途拍了许多城市的铁路建设和人们的生活风貌。凭借新兴的网络传播媒体，这批照片自2008年底得以在中国露出它的面容。(欧宁)
Shenzhen in 1980 / Leroy W. Demery, Jr. / US
Can you imagine what it was like in shenzhen in 1980? That was Year One of Shenzhen being recognized as a special economic zone. Mass scale construction wasn't on the table yet. The town of Shenzhen at that time was like an old fellow who got drunk and took a nap in the afternoon, not knowing the flow of time. Who would ever take a look at this place before it was awakened by the call of history?
There was a young lad aged 27 who came here for his summer trip. He was a teacher in a primary school. Every year in July and August, he would be having holidays. He decided to take a trip across the Atlantic Ocean. He first arrived at Hongkong, and was told that he could spend a half-day visit to another country just in the opposite of the river. Driven by a deep curiosity, he registered and went to Luohu. It was from here that the Shenzhen in 1980 was captured by the camera.
It was a sunny day. The day was hot burned into the film of a Kodachrome. Why this guy called Leroy W. Demery? The secret story of this city at this particular scorching day was thus stored through the camera and was kept in the other side of the ocean. Why such a coincidence? And why take it back upon its 30th anniversary?
Leroy is today aged fifty six. The young amateur railway enthusiast has become an expert on public transportation in cities. He still lives in Los Angels. Three years after his initial journey in Shenzhen, he went to the interior of mainland China. He took photos of railway construction and people's life along the way. Thanks to the popularity of social media, these pictures were once again made public. A China in late 1970s and early 1980s was thus revealed. (Ou Ning)
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